In 1956, studies at PARD indicated that the Deacon's performance could be substantially improved by substituting new propellants while still retaining the Deacon's convenient configuration and size. NACA contracted with Thiokol Chemical Corp., Elkton, Md., for the development and construction of this new motor. The name Cajun was applied to the motor by Joseph G. Thibodaux, head of the PARD rocket section and from New Orleans. The first Cajun firing occurred at Wallops Island on June 20, 1956.
In size, the Deacon and Cajun were no competitors to even the smallish Wac Corporal. The Cajun was just under 264 cm (104 in.) long and weighed 75.3 kg (166 lb) before firing. The Deacon's dimensions were similar.

Nike Cajun American sounding rocket. Two stage vehicle sounding rocket consisting of a Nike booster together with a Cajun upper stage. Aside from the Soviet MMR-06, the Nike-Cajun was the most often launched sounding rocket. The Cajun motor was developed for NASA in the 1950's by Thiokol, providing a more modern but still affordable replacement for the World War II-era Deacon. More...

Cajun American sounding rocket. The Cajun research rocket was developed as a dimensionally-similar but higher performance successor to the Deacon. More...

Wallops Island Small NASA launch site for sounding rocket launches and occasional Scout launches to orbit. Air launches are conducted from the Drop Zone Wallops Island, 37.00 N 72.0 W. With the last orbital launch in 1985 and the decline in sounding rocket launches, Wallops fell into near-disuse as a launch center. Its fortunes revised with the establishment of Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in 2005 and orbital launches resumed in 2010. More...

White Sands White Sands Missile Range occupies an area 160 x 65 km in the Tularosa Basin of southern New Mexico, across the Sacramento Mountain range from Roswell. In the 1930's, Robert Goddard, after surveying weather conditions and population densities, had selected Roswell for his pioneering rocket tests. White Sands, a true desert area, was even more unpopulated than Roswell. German advances in rocketry during World War II impelled the US Army to begin programs to exploit this technology. The White Sands Proving Ground was established for testing German and American long-range rockets on 9 July 1945. Seven days later the first atomic bomb was exploded at Trinity Site, near the north boundary of the range. The first launch of a Tiny Tim rocket was on 26 September 1945. On 11 October a Tiny Tim boosted a WAC Corporal rocket from the tower. This was the first use of Launch Complex 33, later to be used for V-2, Nike, Viking, Corporal, Lance and Multiple Launch Rocket System testing. More...

Atlantic Ocean Sounding rocket launches made from naval vessels in the Atlantic accounted for 521 launches from 1947 to 1995, reaching up to 750 kilometers altitude. More...

Holloman Military missile and sounding rocket launch site. Also notable for several rocket-powered sleds, used to test a variety of manned and unmanned aircraft and aerospace vehicles at supersonic speeds. Known to have been used for 147 major launches from 1948 to 1959, reaching up to 235 kilometers altitude. More...

Pacific Ocean Sounding rocket launches made from naval vessels in the Pacific accounted for 280 launches from 1949 to 2006, reaching up to 1000 kilometers altitude. More...

Cape Canaveral America's largest launch center, used for all manned launches. Today only six of the 40 launch complexes built here remain in use. Located at or near Cape Canaveral are the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, used by NASA for Saturn V and Space Shuttle launches; Patrick AFB on Cape Canaveral itself, operated the US Department of Defense and handling most other launches; the commercial Spaceport Florida; the air-launched launch vehicle and missile Drop Zone off Mayport, Florida, located at 29.00 N 79.00 W, and an offshore submarine-launched ballistic missile launch area. All of these take advantage of the extensive down-range tracking facilities that once extended from the Cape, through the Caribbean, South Atlantic, and to South Africa and the Indian Ocean. More...

Vandenberg Vandenberg Air Force Base is located on the Central Coast of California about 240 km northwest of Los Angeles. It is used for launches of unmanned government and commercial satellites into polar orbit and intercontinental ballistic missile test launches toward the Kwajalein Atoll. More...

Fort Churchill Fort Churchill is an Arctic site on Hudson Bay with a rail link. It is near the point of maximum auroral activity. This combination of circumstances made it ideal for far-north sounding rocket launches. In 1954, the Canadian Army conducted the first series of rocket firings at Fort Churchill. Following a period of inactivity, construction of more elaborate facilities in support of the International Geophysical Year began in 1956. IGY firings began in July 1957. The range was closed again in December 1958 after the IGY program ended. It was reopened again in August 1959 by the US Army as part of its network of sounding rocket stations. This allowed use of the site by other groups over the years. More...

Point Mugu US Naval Air Station and major missile testing centre, known to have been used for 2551 launches from 1955 to 2005. The actual total of missile tests is many times greater. More...

Guam Sounding rocket launch location known to have been used for 12 launches from 1957 to 1958, reaching up to 85 kilometers altitude. More...

Tonopah Sounding rocket and test vehicle launch site. Conducted launches in support of US nuclear weapons development programs. Known to have been used for 93 launches from 1957 to 1986, reaching up to 270 kilometers altitude. More...

Johnston Island US military base on this island in the Pacific Ocean. Used for rocket-launched nuclear tests in the 1950's. In the 1960's it was the site for the operational AFP-437 anti-satellite system. The system was retired in 1975. Several sounding rockets were also launched over the years, either in support of nuclear tests or in experiments related to anti-satellite technology. Known to have been used for 124 launches from 1958 to 1975, reaching up to 1158 kilometers altitude. More...

Eglin This US Air Force proving ground and missile test range, based in Valparaiso, Florida and extending over a vast expanse of the Gulf of Mexico, was founded in 1935, In early 1946 the First Experimental Guided Missiles Group was activated at Eglin. The highly-instrumented Eglin Gulf Test Range supported flight tests of Bomarc, Matador, Quail, and Hound Dog cruise missiles. Both the military and NASA used Eglin to support launch of sounding rockets in support of their programs. Eglin was known to have been used for 441 launches from 1959 to 1980, reaching up to 686 kilometers altitude. The actual number of missile tests was many times greater. More...

Salto di Quirra Salto di Quirra, in southeast Sardinia near the town of Perdas de Fogu, is an inter-service missile test center operated by the Italian Air Force. It also supports sounding rocket launches and test of larger rockets in support of Italy's abandoned ballistic missile and on-and-of satellite launcher programs. More...

Kronogard Sounding rocket launch location known to have been used for 18 launches from 1961 to 1964, reaching up to 135 kilometers altitude. More...

Kwajalein The US military base located on this Pacific island group has major tracking facilities and is near the impact area for dummy warheads fired by ICBM's from Vandenberg AFB. It is a key test location for anti-ballistic missile systems. More...

Sonmiani Sounding rocket launch location known to have been used for 90 launches from 1962 to 2007, reaching up to 423 kilometers altitude. More...

Andoya Andoya Rocket Range (ARR) is the world's northernmost permanent launch facility for sounding rockets and scientific balloons and is responsible for all scientific-related balloon and rocket operations in Norwegian territory. ARR provides complete services for launch, operations, data acquisition, recovery and ground instrumentation support. The range has conducted more than 650 rocket launches and hosted scientists and engineers from more than 70 institutes and universities. More...

Barking Sands Military missile test and sounding rocket launch site. In use from 1962 to present. Sandia National Laboratories operates the Kauai Test Facility for the Department of Energy and, through inter-Service Support Agreements provides the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range Facility with rocket launch services for target systems and upper atmosphere measurements. PMRF/KTF is recognized in the INF Treaty as an authorized site from which launches of the STARS missile can be conducted. The site was recently involved in anti-ballistic missile tests. Known to have been used for 2320 launches from 1962 to 2007, reaching up to 1000 kilometers altitude. More...

CELPA Sounding rocket launch location known to have been used for 92 launches from 1962 to 1974, reaching up to 406 kilometers altitude. More...

Ascension Sounding rocket launch site located on an island in the South Atlantic near a NASA/USAF tracking station. Known to have been used for 1703 launches from 1963 to 2000, reaching up to 158 kilometers altitude. More...

Point Barrow Sounding rocket launch location known to have been used for 73 launches from 1965 to 1972, reaching up to 200 kilometers altitude. More...

Kiruna The sounding rocket launch site at Kiruna was officially opened in September 1966 under the auspices of ESRO (European Space Research Organisation). When ESA was created in 1972 and replaced ESRO, Kiruna came under the management of the Swedish Space Corporation, a state-owned limited liability company under the Swedish Ministry of Industry. The 'Esrange' is located 45 km from the town of Kiruna and has seven permanent pads able to launch the largest sounding rockets, including the Black Brant 9, Skylark 12, and Castor 4B-boosted vehicles. More...

Natal Sounding rocket launch location known to have been used for 233 launches from 1965 to 2007, reaching up to 1100 kilometers altitude. More...

El Arenosillo Spanish sounding rocket launch location known to have been used for 335 launches from 1966 to 1994, reaching up to 700 kilometers altitude. More...

Kourou After the agreement with newly independent Algeria for France to evacuate their launch sites in that country, a location near Biscarosse was selected for French missile testing. However since only launches westwards across the Bay of Biscay could be made from this site, it was unsuitable for France's Diamant orbital launch vehicle. After reviewing 14 potential sites, a location in the South American French colony of Guiana was selected. This would allow over-water launches to a tremendous range of possible orbital inclinations -- from -100.5 deg to 1.5 deg. Being near the equator, it would provide the maximum assist from the earth's rotation for launches into equatorial orbits. The decision was formalized in April 1964 and in July 1966 ELDO chose the site for future launches of the Europa II launch vehicle. More...